Guardian Angel
by Shadowmaiden3
Summary: She was blind and minus an arm, but she would have been less than that. He was the reason she was still alive, that mercenary with the ridiculous braid. SPOILERS for OVA/Vol 7. Warning: gore, language, dark themes. Oneshot Seras POV


WARNING!! THIS IS NOT A HAPPY ENDING, THOUGH I DO MY BEST. (I'm one of those "beauty in destruction" gals if there's no regular happiness floating around)

ALSO, SPOILERS AHEAD, IF YOU HAVEN'T READ VOL 7 (I think that's the one) OR SEEN THE END OF THE 7TH OVA

This is what you get when you give me something like that scene. I always say I hate tragedy, but that isn't completely true, I hate pointless tragedy. (Romeo and Juliet is sad, yes, but in my jaded opinion I think they were both idiots for not double checking before pulling a stunt like that.) If there's a purpose to it then I like it. I NEED MY HAPPPY ENDINGS, BLESSIT!!!

I got the dialogue from the subbed OVA and since I watched it in Japanese there was a little room for translation on my end, nothing major… some swearwords substituted for others and such.

Larksfall, I don't know if you're going to read this but I hope you're not writing happy poems! Believe me, this is not something that you would think I could write.

I own neither Hellsing, the charaters or the scene in this fic, but imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

~†~†~†~†~

"I'll be taking that pretty head of yours. Now, DIE!!"

The clear-headedness that came with the pain of being blinded came too late to do her any good. A million thoughts and regrets… _NO! NO!! I WILL NOT DIE. Please. Please don't let me die. Pleeease!! I cannot… Not yet! _The sickening weakness of her body. The desperation and frustration were so intense she felt nauseous.

"Shut up, ugly bitch!!" Seras heard bone crunch and the agonizing pressure left the wound on her back. There were grunts of effort and clashing metal, then Bernadette shouted, "Here's your bonus!" and let off several rounds of gunshots. Seras felt a thud through the floor. "That shut you up, didn't it?"

Some cans hit the floor and she smelled… _Smokescreen, covering the retreat._

"Hurry, Captain!"

"This way, quickly Captain!"

She couldn't make her body do anything; every attempt at movement brought another wave of agony from her chest. She was so weak from blood loss that the smallest movement was exhausting but she refused to stop trying. She felt someone lift her by the scruff of her neck and she almost blacked out when she felt something inside her tear further. She wished she could find the breath to scream.

"Berna… Captain,"

"Don't speak." Every step he took hurt. She could tell he was doing his best to keep her still, but he was wounded, in the stomach from the smell, and he staggered, almost jolting her into unconsciousness.

She knew he could probably escape on his own, with luck, but if he tried to save her he would get himself killed. "Captain, please leave…" She had lost her voice screaming and she couldn't even hear herself.

The roar of a machine gun and Bernadette's choked scream combined into one horrible sound that continued until she thought her ears would burst. She could feel him jolt and jerk from the bullets, and the combined smell of blood and lacerated intestines made her stomach heave. She had no trouble controlling her thirst now.

She sobbed in despair. _No! He shouldn't have to die!_

He lurched forward and she nearly lost consciousness. Her entire body was one undulating wail of agony and she didn't know anything except pain. She drew breath she didn't need in quick sharp pants.

_Bernadette, r-run away! It's too late for me._ Even her thoughts rasped.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Somewhere nearby there was more machinegun fire.

Seras could feel her consciousness slipping away, along with the pain, but she refused to give in to the darkness and peace of sleep. She refused to let go until Bernadette left her and escaped.

"Pl-" She felt something flying toward them and the next moment she heard metal scraping bone. His spine arched in agony as the top of the scythe blade pressed against her side and he vomited a fountain of blood.

She was flying through the air. Then she knew no more.

~†~

"_All your effort was for nothing, trash." _

Seras couldn't see what had happened to her mercenary friend. "Bernadette?! Bernadette!" She gasped, near panic. She swung her sightless eyes from side to side, searching for any sign of him, and her heart clenched when she heard his breath hitch as he moved.

"Fu-fucking idiot."

"Bernadette!"

"It's pretty pathetic that I had to save you wh-when you came to save me." He sighed. She heard a scratching and then smelled cigarette smoke.

Seras tried to crawl to him but her arm gave out and her sobs of frustration came out as gasps as she managed to drag herself onto her knees and reached toward the sound of his voice. _He has to be all right. Please let him be all right!_ Her hand found his knee and she pulled herself up toward him, gritting her teeth with the effort. Then there was a hand behind her head pulling and guiding her upward until her lips met something soft.

_**!!!!!**_

She tensed, surprised, but then her defenses crumbled. Cautiously, almost timidly, she kissed him back. He tasted almost unbearably of cigarettes and, of course, blood, but underneath that he tasted pure, like the air after a summer thunderstorm. His tongue touched hers for the briefest of instants before they broke apart.

He leaned away from her and broke out in triumphant laughter. "I finally caught you off guard! I finally stole a kiss!"

Terror and a warm feeling vied for dominance as she listened to him. _I wish I could see his face._ Her inner predator saw that death was close. _He_ knew death was close. She choked and the sobs that she had kept inside forced their way out. She felt something in her heart break and tear.

"Ah, don't cry, Seras. You're a tough girl. Feed off me, and let's defeat them as one, Seras."

She reached out to him, but her hands met wood instead of flesh. Frantically she reached down ti where he lay and felt her way up his body, she overbalanced and fell on his chest, but in her desperation she managed to pull him up.

_No, no no nonononoooo youcannotdie—YOUCANNOTDIEONME!!! _She pulled him tight to her, hoping that, somehow, by holding him she could hold his life in as well. She would later look into his last thoughts and hear the words that she was _worth_ dying for, but then the only thing she knew was this pain. Her memories of him flickered around her, and she screamed her sorrow to the world.

"Well, isn't that touching?" Through the pain she heard a voice mocking. "That maggot obviously didn't recognize his place on the food chain; always buzzing around.

"He had it coming."

Those words broke through her anguish and her tears began to dry up.

"You've done a lot of damage to my battalion, and that's a big no-no. So, how should I return _the favor_?" That tattooed bitch, who did she think she was, calling someone above her a maggot? Seras felt the first flames of rage and she welcomed them, feeding them with her grief and guilt.

"Reinforcements?!"

"Another set of troops?"

"Quiet! I will crush the swarm of you with the palm of my hand! The pestering insects' lives… are now officially over!"

"Did you just refer to this man as an insect?" She there was so much rage in her heart that it felt like there was no room to breathe, and her question came out completely empty of emotion. She scarcely noticed the pathetic attempt at illusion, or the screams of protest from the other two men. "A mere insect?!"

Blood welled in her ruined eyes and ran down her cheek like tears. "You'll pay."

"You'll fucking pay!"

"You will fucking pay!" _Feed off me, and let's defeat them as one, Seras._ She would pay for insulting him, and she would pay _triple_ for his death.

Her humanity screamed for revenge and her vampire screamed for blood. She would not deny them. _As one. _ She screamed her vengeance and fulfilled the last request of Pip Bernadette._ As one._ She shrieked in ecstasy as she drank. His blood was ten, no, a hundred times more than the donated blood she had been subsisting on. Not only could she feel her power growing, feel herself healing and evolving, she could feel _him_ there. Her guardian angel, in life, and now in death. She drank and drank; it seemed there was no end to the blood of this man. The warmth of it coated her body, cocooning and protecting, fusing with her skin yet remaining separate. She could feel her lost arm regenerating as well.

When the flow of his blood stopped, she reluctantly released his neck and hissed in satisfaction and rage. Standing, she opened her eyes and watched in bitter satisfaction as _the other's _eyes widened. She reeked of confusion and a hint of fear, and Seras savored the ambrosial scent of her enemy's fear. With a thought she shattered the pitiful illusion into a thousand shards. Her chest ached slightly when she looked at the remnants of the shattered shell that had been her friend.

"Let's kill them, Captain Bernadette."

_Slaughter. _ She moved into a fighting stance and lashed her new arm.

"Kill!"

She could smell the terror rolling off the pathetic creatures that called themselves vampires, and her vampiric side shrieked in excitement and clawed at her to charge and slaughter them all and bathe in their blood.

_Together, you and I... Together we will kill them all!_

She saw several of the pathetic creatures move as if to flee, and her predator took over.

She heard their screams of terror and she bared her teeth in anticipation. It was effortless to dodge the bullets, and she barely slowed as she tore into them.

She danced with death. Every movement tore through a chest, crushed a head. Their lifeblood flowed like the Nile. As she approached the tattooed one she could smell the fear beginning to roll off her like it had rolled off her soldiers. It was delicious.

She crushed them as easily as she had crushed that witch's illusions. Even the heat of her anger was not enough to warm her when she looked at the tattooed vampire that had caused all this.

She grabbed the woman's head and forced it to the ground, tightening her grip until she could feel bones creaking under her palm. The vampire's head resisted her efforts to crush it and the vampire punched Seras with all her might. She would have laughed at the paltry attempt had it not disrupted her hold. The third time she tried to hit Seras, her fist met a mouthful of teeth. She bit down and heard a scream. She spit out the dismembered fingers, disgusted.

"I'm not going to drink one drop, one bit, one micro-litre of your blood. I won't!!" Her grip tightened even more. "**I WON'T!!**"

Desperation fueled the female's last attempt to free herself. Her right hand slammed into Seras' face with enough force to stun her and she could feel an illusion trying to form, but instead of another living nightmare, she could see that Bernadette's memories, his soul, were confusing the witch. She regained her focus and grabbed the female's head and slammed it against the wall and started to run. "Bitch, get out of my sight! Out of my mind!" The skull under her hand began to fracture under the pressure, and she was rewarded by sprays of crimson, bone and brain as the friction tore away at the vampire's head.

At the end of the hall she threw down the ruined corpse and watched as blue flames curled out of it. As she turned to go back she felt the intense heat behind her.

She slowly walked back to Bernadette's body and, at last, was able to see him again. Her rage and grief had burned out, leaving nothing but dull sadness. She looked at his face, and thought she could see a small, satisfied smile in the corners of his mouth. Her new eyes slid closed. _Until next time, Bernadette. Rest well._

She turned to face the false dawn. "I'm heading out." She was tired beyond measure but she couldn't rest, not yet.

"Heading out? Where to?"

"I make a promise to the Captain. I said I'd defeat them all." She turned to look at the men who showed their concern and smiled. "So, I'm heading out to destroy them." Her smile grew a little more real at his expression.

"Oh."

She turned around and walked toward the window.

"Wait a second."

She paused, turning to look at them, and when she saw them salute smartly, she would swear that her broken heart healed then, just a little bit. "Yessir!"

She accepted the salute with a nod and turned to sprint and catapult herself out of the broken window, her new "arm" forming into wings that could carry her faster than any bird could hope to fly, toward that burning city of Hell, London.

~†~

She would not feel guilt for accepting what was freely given, and she would not disrespect the price he had willingly paid by failing to fulfill her promise. She would put an end to this, probably even if it killed her.

***End***

A/N: "yurusanai" (sp?) is the word used when she says "you'll pay", but I have also heard it translated as "(I) won't forgive (you)"

That was one of the most emotionally exhausting things I have ever written. Here I thought this would take me an hour or so, I'd just plunk down, write it up and _zip,_ it'd be done. Should have learned by now that it's never that simple. Well, for me two days is a pretty good amount of time to get this done in.


End file.
